Injury Notes: Chatfield, Beecher, Hamilton
Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield will not return to tonight’s game, per the team, after sustaining a brutal hit to the head from Wild forward Tyler Pitlick. Chatfield was helped off the ice and left the game immediately, while Pitlick received a match penalty from the game, which carries an automatic suspension pending review from the league. It stands as the first match penalty of the 2025-26 NHL season.
Already missing Jaccob Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere, the Canes can seldom afford to lose another defenseman. They have already called upon Joel Nystrom, who is getting his first NHL action this season after coming over from Sweden, being drafted by the club in the seventh round back in 2021. Meanwhile, Chatfield was signed to a rather unassuming two-way deal in 2021, but since then has become a highly reliable and steady presence for the Hurricanes on the backend, not playing in less than 72 games in the past three seasons.
Pitlick, 34, has never been known as an overly aggressive player, but since making it back to the NHL this season with his hometown Minnesota Wild, the veteran has tried to bring physicality, and unfortunately, crossed the line in doing so. Pitlick has yet to record a point in nine games with the Wild, having last played in the NHL with the Rangers in 2023-24, splitting time between New York and the AHL in that season. Now, eyes will be on any further discipline on the journeyman forward.
Elsewhere across the league:
- The Boston Bruins confirmed mid-game that forward John Beecher will not return due to an upper-body injury. Beecher, 24, went down hard and appeared to be favoring his shoulder. The 24-year-old former first-round pick is still working to find his offense, with 26 points in 78 games last season, and one goal in five games so far in 2025-26. Yet even when not appearing on the scoresheet, Beecher brings imposing size in the bottom six at 6’3”.
- Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton left during the second period against Montreal, and has not returned, as confirmed by Amanda Stein, Devils team reporter. Hamilton, 32, has unfortunately only one injury-free season in five as a Devil, his major breakout 74-points in 82 games campaign in 2022-23. New Jersey already placed fellow standout defender Brett Pesce on IR earlier today. The team has not disclosed further details on Hamilton at this time.
Devils Place Brett Pesce On IR, Activate Cody Glass
The Devils officially announced that defenseman Brett Pesce has been placed on injured reserve. His roster spot will go to center Cody Glass, who’s coming off IR and will be available tonight against the Canadiens.
Pesce’s IR placement is backdated to his last appearance on Oct. 26. Since that’s more than a week ago, he can technically be activated at any time, but he’ll be on IR for at least a couple of more weeks. The team said Pesce, who’s dealing with an upper-body issue, won’t be back until Thanksgiving at the earliest.
In his second season in New Jersey, the 30-year-old continues to play as their top shutdown option. Not including his last game, in which he played 6:07 before leaving with the injury, he was averaging 21:20 of ice time, which would stand as second on the team amid what’s been an incredibly balanced deployment from head coach Sheldon Keefe regarding his back end. Of the Devils’ six regulars on defense, none has averaged more than 22 minutes per game, and none has averaged less than 16.
Before the injury, Pesce had three assists and a +3 rating in nine showings. He was Luke Hughes‘ right-hand man at even strength with spectacular results. Among the 104 defense pairings with at least 60 minutes together, Hughes and Pesce’s 60.2 xGF% ranks 10th, per MoneyPuck.
Seamus Casey and Dennis Cholowski have rotated into the lineup in Pesce’s absence. The former is no longer an option, at least for now, after he was sent back to AHL Utica yesterday in exchange for veteran Colton White.
As for Glass, the Devils are welcoming him back after a 16-day, seven-game absence. He played in six straight to start the year before sustaining an upper-body injury against the Maple Leafs on Oct. 21. So far, he’s given New Jersey decent reward for the two-year, $5MM contract they signed him to this summer. He had two goals and a +1 rating while seeing 12:34 of ice time per game. He was centering the third line between Connor Brown and Arseny Gritsyuk before exiting the lineup. Glass returns to that slot tonight, per Mike Morreale of NHL.com, but will have Ondřej Palát on his flank instead of Brown as the latter deals with an undisclosed injury for the third straight game.
Brown Could Play Thursday, Glass And MacEwen Getting Close To Returning
The Devils should soon be getting some help on the injury front. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters today including Kristy Flannery of The Hockey News (Twitter link) that winger Connor Brown is a possibility to return Thursday against Montreal. He has missed the last two games due to an undisclosed injury, putting on hold what has been a strong start to his season with five tallies in his first 11 outings. Meanwhile, center Cody Glass and winger Zack MacEwen are skating and while Keefe suggested they’re unlikely to play tomorrow, they’re likely to skate Friday and are also nearing returns. Glass, who has missed a couple of weeks with an upper-body injury has a pair of goals in six games so far while MacEwen has made one appearance thus far and has missed the last three weeks with an upper-body issue.
Devils Reassign Seamus Casey, Recall Colton White
The New Jersey Devils are making a slight change to their defensive core. According to a team announcement, the Devils have reassigned Seamus Casey to the AHL’s Utica Comets and have recalled Colton White in a corresponding roster move.
Today’s roster move ends a 10-day stint in the NHL for Casey, though he only appeared in two contests. He went scoreless in those games with a -3 rating, averaging 18:01 of ice time per game. The University of Michigan alumnus raised a few red flags on the defensive side of the puck, though he managed a CorsiFor% on the positive side of 50%.
Still, even when factoring in his performance from last season, there’s no doubting that Casey could use some more seasoning in the AHL. Since turning professional last year, he’s scored three goals and 19 points in 31 games for the Comets.
Fortunately, the Devils have one of the deepest defensive cores when healthy, so there’s no need to rush Casey to the game’s top level. Keeping that in mind, it’ll be far better for his development if he can play in more situations and have the opportunity for more ice time in Utica.
Meanwhile, at 28 years old, White is no longer considered a prospect. Although New Jersey selected him in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Draft, White took a brief leave from the Devils organization from 2022 to 2024, when he was playing in the Anaheim Ducks organization.
The 2025-26 campaign is the ninth professional year for White. Spending much of his time with the Devils’ AHL affiliates, he’s scored 20 goals and 91 points in 323 games with a -70 rating. In the NHL, he’s tallied 10 assists in 84 games with a -20 rating. Despite spending nearly a decade in the professional circuit, White has yet to play in a postseason contest in either the AHL or NHL.
Brown Listed Day-To-Day With Undisclosed Injury
- Devils winger Connor Brown will miss tonight’s game against Los Angeles with an undisclosed injury, notes team reporter Amanda Stein (Twitter link). However, it doesn’t appear he’ll be out too long as he’s listed as day-to-day. Brown is off to a strong start in his first season with New Jersey, picking up five goals and an assist through his first 11 games.
Devils Sign Jacob Markstrom To Two-Year Extension
After New Jersey re-signed Luke Hughes at the beginning of the month, their focus shifted toward keeping one of their pending UFAs in the fold in goaltender Jacob Markstrom. Those efforts have paid off as the Devils announced that they’ve signed goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a two-year, $12MM contract extension.
The 35-year-old is in his second season with New Jersey after being acquired from Calgary a little before the 2024 draft in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick (used on Cole Reschny) and defenseman Kevin Bahl. The hope was that acquiring him, coupled with the addition of Jake Allen a few months earlier, would help stabilize a goaltending position that had been in some flux for a while.
Mission accomplished on that front. After allowing 281 goals in 2023-24, the Devils cut that amount by 61 last season, allowing the fifth-fewest goals in the league in the process. Markstrom played a big role in that success, posting a 2.50 GAA and a .900 SV% in 49 regular season starts while also putting up a 2.78 GAA and a .911 SV% in their first-round playoff exit at the hands of Carolina. He’s not off to a great start this season, however, with a 5.13 GAA and a .830 SV% in four appearances but he’s also just coming back from a lower-body injury.
Over his 16-year career between Vancouver, Florida, Calgary, and New Jersey, Markstrom has a 243-214-63 record with a 2.72 GAA, a .908 SV%, and 24 shutouts. He has typically been one of the more consistent goalies in recent years, providing a strong return on his current six-year contract, one that expires next summer and also carries a cap hit of $6MM per season. However, the Devils will be responsible for that full amount, unlike now, where the Flames are picking up $1.875MM of Markstrom’s price tag as part of the swap.
A few months ago, New Jersey signed Allen to a five-year deal, a surprising term for someone just a few months younger than Markstrom. But the benefit in doing so was that the cap hit came in at $1.8MM, well below his market value when many expected he’d get more than twice that much per season. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Markstrom’s camp appeared to be looking for something similar, a fixed sum of money but they were open to spreading it out over a longer term like Allen. However, the Devils were firm on a shorter-term agreement, even though it means a higher AAV.
With this deal done, New Jersey now has their goalie tandem intact for the next couple of seasons at a combined $7.8MM price tag, just 7.5% of the projected $104MM Upper Limit for next season. That’s a solid price tag for a capable and experienced tandem, giving GM Tom Fitzgerald a bit of flexibility to work with. With this deal now done, the Devils have a little over $10MM in spending room for next season, per PuckPedia, with pending RFAs Simon Nemec, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Paul Cotter highlighting the list of players in need of new deals over the next ten or so months.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report the signing.
Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.
Devils Place Cody Glass On IR, Activate Juho Lammikko
The New Jersey Devils will have some notable center depth missing for the next little while. The Devils announced that they’ve placed center Cody Glass on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, and have activated Juho Lammikko in a corresponding roster move.
Although they didn’t mention it in the announcement, Glass’s placement on the IR is likely retroactive to October 21st, the last time he played, making him eligible for activation tomorrow. Before succumbing to the lower-body ailment, he scored two goals in six games and averaged a 40.3% success rate in the faceoff dot on the team’s third line.
Despite the low faceoff success, Glass has been relatively solid for New Jersey’s possession play and on the defensive side of the puck. Regardless, the team is off to an excellent start, winning with and without Glass.
Replacing Glass in the lineup will be Lammikko, who was placed on the IR last week to create space for Stefan Noesen‘s activation. Tonight’s game against the Colorado Avalanche will be Lammikko’s first NHL appearance since the 2021-22 campaign, when he scored seven goals and 15 points in 75 games for the Vancouver Canucks. He’s spent the last few years overseas with the NL’s ZSC Lions.
Although it’s well known that the Devils have an excellent team when healthy, the third-line center position could be an area for an upgrade around the trade deadline. New Jersey already has one of the best combinations in their top six with Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, and a prominent third-line center could put them over the top.
Devils’ Brett Pesce Out At Least One Month
Oct. 28: Pesce’s upper-body injury will keep him out of the lineup for at least a month, according to the team’s Amanda Stein.
Oct. 26: The New Jersey Devils will head on their upcoming four-game road trip without defenseman Brett Pesce, head coach Sheldon Keefe told team reporter Amanda Stein after Sunday’s win over the Colorado Avalanche. Pesce left that game in the first period after blocking a shot. Keefe told the media that Pesce’s injury was “not great”.
This is yet another blow to the Devils’ blue line. They are already missing reliable depth defender Johnathan Kovacevic, who is still recovering from a knee injury sustained during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. New Jersey has avoided major lineup changes in light of Kovacevic’s injury, largely thanks to young pro Simon Nemec, who has seven assists in nine games this season. But Pesce’s absence will force the Devils to reach into their depth chart. Dennis Cholowski is currently on the NHL roster as an extra defenseman and should receive the first chance to step into a nightly role. New Jersey could also lean on AHL prospects, and collegiate teammates, Ethan Edwards and Seamus Casey.
Even with the promising upside of their young prospects, New Jersey will struggle to fill Pesce’s role entirely. The 11-year pro has recorded three points and a plus-two in eight games this season, while averaging the second-highest ice time on the team (21:21) behind Dougie Hamilton (21:53). Pesce has spent almost all of his even-strength minutes next to top youngster Luke Hughes. Now in their second year playing together, the two have managed to outscore their opponents four-to-one at even-strength. They lead the team’s blue line in Goals-For percentage (80 percent) and Expected-Goals-For percentage (63.1 percent) per MoneyPuck.
Pesce and Hughes were plenty effective together last year as well. They were outscored 31-to-38 at even-strength, but generated a lofty 953 shots across the full season – over 100 more than any other Devils pairing. New Jersey averaged over one shot on net for every minute Hughes and Pesce were on the ice. They won their Expected-Goals battle as a result of the volume shooting, posting a 53.1 xGF% across 70 games together.
Pesce’s absence could push Nemec into an important, top-pair role next to Hughes, which would preserve the high-firing pairing of Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler. Nemec received the third-most ice time on New Jersey’s defense (23:35) in Sunday’s overtime matchup. It’s the fourth-most he’s ever played in a regular-season game, and he vindicated it with three assists, two shots, and five blocked shots. That kind of performance will be exactly what New Jersey needs as they face the absence of a 700-game pro.
Devils Recall Seamus Casey
The Devils didn’t waste much time filling the roster spot created by their assigning of Nico Daws back to AHL Utica earlier today. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Seamus Casey from the Comets.
The 21-year-old broke camp with New Jersey last season and had three separate stints with them over the course of the year. In those games, he was certainly productive offensively for a blueliner, tallying four goals and four assists in 14 appearances despite fairly light playing time at just 12:39 per night. In between, he was similarly productive in the minors with the Comets, picking up 18 points in 30 appearances with them.
This season, Casey started on season-opening injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. He was activated earlier this week and sent to Utica. He played in one game down there, collecting an assist.
It appears that Casey will be taking the place of Brett Pesce in New Jersey’s lineup after it was revealed following their game today against Colorado that the veteran won’t be going on their four-game road trip. Dennis Cholowski is also on the roster but he may remain the seventh defender as it seems unlikely that they’d recall Casey to merely keep him around as a healthy scratch.
Daws Assigned To Utica
- The New Jersey Devils reassigned goaltender Nico Daws to the AHL after Sunday’s overtime win over the Colorado Avalanche. Daws did not dress for the matchup. He’s served as the team’s de facto backup while starter Jacob Markstrom recovered from injury. Daws made his season debut on Wednesday, and managed an impressive 30 saves on 31 shots to lead New Jersey to a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. Now, Daws will return to the top role for the Utica Comets. He’s so far only played in one game for Utica, where he saved 26 of 27 shots in a close-fought loss. He posted an .893 save percentage and an 11-20-3 record on a dismal Utica lineup last season. New Jersey’s assignment of Daws will push Jakub Malek into a backup role, and could push Jeremy Brodeur to an ECHL loan.